TODAY – JAN 5, 2011 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

MONTREAL CANADIENS PLAY FIRST GAMEMontreal Quebec – Le club athlétique Canadien hockey team play their first game, seven years before the founding of the NHL Their owner is J. Ambrose O’Brien and they are composed entirely of francophones until the 1911-12 season.

1987

Also On This Day...

Lakefield Ontario – Canadian author Margaret Laurence dies at age 60, losing a battle with cancer; best known for her novels The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), The Fire Dwellers (1969) and The Diviners (1974). [Photo:M&S]

1849

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Samuel Benfield Steele 1849-1919
soldier, policeman, was born on this day in 1849 at Purbrooke, Ontario; dies in London England Jan 30, 1919. Sam Steele joined the Canadian militia during the Fenian invasions in 1866, and went west in 1870 as a Private with the Red River Expedition. The following year he joined the permanent force, and in 1873 the new North West Mounted Police, as a Sergeant-Major. In 1879 he was put in charge of Fort Qu’Appelle, where he protected the CPR construction program, and in 1885 he was promoted to Superintendent. In 1898 he led the Yukon Field Force to Dawson and the Klondike gold fields, and then pulled together Lord Strathcona’s Horse for service in the Boer War. He retired in 1918 after leading the Second Canadian contingent to World War I
Also Myrtle Cook 1902-1985
track and field athlete, was born on this day in 1901; died Mar 18, 1985. Cook held the Canadian titles in the 60, 100 and 400 relay metre distances in the late 1920s. At the 1928 Olympiad she was the anchor leg of Canada’s gold medal winning 400m. relay. She had previously set the world record for the 100 Metre Sprint at the Canadian Olympic trials in Halifax, but false starts put her out of contention in Amsterdam.

In Other Events…

1995

Toronto Ontario – Rogers Cablesystems President Colin Watson says ‘We now know we have made a mistake,’ as consumer revolt forces company to withdraw its negative option billing for seven new specialty cable-television channels; unless customers told Rogers they didn’t want the channels, they would be automatically billed for them.

1990

St. John’s Newfoundland – Victor Young, President of Fishery Products International, says the company will have to close its Grand Bank, Gaultois & Trepassy fish plants; Premier Wells announces $12 million subsidy; until 1991, saving 1300 jobs and 13 trawlers.

1986

Edmonton Alberta – Oilers star Wayne Gretzky becomes the first NHL player to score 100 or more points in seven consecutive seasons.

Ottawa Ontario – Supreme Court of Canada upholds War Measures Act, passed in 1914, which gives federal Cabinet emergency powers to govern by decree when it perceives the existence of ‘war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended’.

Peoria Illinois – Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle 1643-1687 starts building Fort Crevecoeur at Illinois Indian village of Pimitoui on Lake Peoria; later destroyed by mutineers because of fear of Native attack.

1616

Nottawasaga Bay Ontario – Samuel de Champlain c1570-1635 sets off to visit Petun (Tobacco) Nation, south of Nottawasaga Bay, with Father Le Caron.